BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- The Chicago Fire announced Friday that Grant Ward’s loan deal from Tottenham Hotspur had been extended through the end of the season.
With the original loan term set to expire at the end of June, the news was quite welcome too. It would have felt a tad awkward to send the 19-year-old winger back to London with only five or six games played after his recovery from a broken metatarsal, suffered with Spurs just days before the original loan agreement was to be announced.
“He sort of hadn’t played for three months and then I play him three games in a week,” Yallop said about Ward’s recent run prior to the World Cup break.
“Both of us think it was good for him to get a lot of minutes under his belt for the last week we just had. Moving forward, he’s a good young player that I think is really going to add to us and good to have him for the remainder of the season.”
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Asked about how Ward handled the recent three games in seven day stretch, Yallop said, “He’s fine. He’s only just turned 19. I don’t think your body gets tired at that point. He’s still learning about the league but whether we use him off the bench or starting. He’s a good player and it’s good having him.”
Yallop talks Barouch termination
With the team resuming training Friday after taking four days off at the start of the MLS World Cup break, Yallop answered questions regarding the contract termination of Orr Barouch earlier in the week.
Barouch was re-called from his loan to Israeli side Bnei Yehdua in February but never made a first-team appearance in his return to the club this season.
“I didn’t feel Orr was really going to get a chance here and he felt the same,” Yallop said. “We mutually agreed to part ways. I wish him all the best. He wished us all the best but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. It was best to do what he did, he’s happy and we’re happy.
“We want to add some players if we can in the window. We’re just making sure we can clear some space and some spots so that can happen.”
